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Okay, I don't follow the news very much, and don't watch TV at all. So I totally missed the news that Pepsi was going to drop aspartame from Diet Pepsi and change to sucralose (Splenda). I do look at the latest posts on this board but if this news has been mentioned, I didn't catch it.

So: I'm not terribly surprised, aspartame has never been without some suspicion as to causing heath issues. But, for the last few decades, that's pretty much true of all artificial sweeteners. The studies that indicted calcium cyclamates and sodium saccharin back in the 60s and 70s ( and both later being debunked) certainly had something to do with that... along with many other personal anecdotes. Aspartame in particlular in recent years.

Now, I was quite bummed out when Pepsi dropped Splenda-sweetened Pepsi One last year - it was about the only diet cola I liked, that and Diet Pepsi Wild Cherry. So now a year later, Pepsi decides Splenda is the way to go after all. I wonder how much Diet Pepsi will resemble Pepsi One after the reformulation?

Well, tonight, was at the local Safeway and saw new Aspartame-Free Diet Pepsi in 24oz-6packs (I thought those were to have been discontinued by now?!!) and bought one. Threw a bottle in the freezer when I got home, and it's now chilled enough to try:

Okay, so I cracked it open and tried it.

Tastes... like Diet Pepsi to me (I don't drink lots of the normal Diet Pepsi, but enough to know the taste) However, the carbonation seems a little different. I had Googled for reviews of the new formula, and found some totally trashing it. I don't agree - to me, it's really not that different than before. But I wasn't a huge fan of it as it was before. For me, the thing is, is that it is not a resurrection of Pepsi One, which is what I would have wanted.

By far, the biggest Diet Pepsi product I consume is the Diet Wild Cherry - I'll be waiting for those to hit the shelves!

-Andy

Give me some cane sugar real Pepsi in a glass bottle... and not Throwback!

Yeah, I agree that it pretty much tastes the same. Maybe with a slightly more syrupy mouthfeel. The same goes for the new Wild Cherry version, which I did spot around here.

While I have seen a few complaints here and there, the general public response to this change seems to be "meh". The lack of discussion until now seems to exemplify that. I don't think one artificial sweetener over the other is going to make a huge difference in public perception, and the taste should still satisfy all but the most diehard Diet Pepsi fans. Perhaps they'll attract enough of the former Pepsi One and Diet Coke w/ Splenda crowds to offset any lost customers.

It's also worth noting that they'll still sell the old formula online. Would be cool if they used retro graphics with that, but I somehow doubt that will happen. I do wonder how this will affect the fountain formula, which has already been different from the bottled one.